STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: AWAKENING
by DhuryamDhuryam
Summary: A MASSIVE OVERHAUL OF MY STAR WARS STORIES IS UNDERWAY. CHECK MY PROFILE FOR MORE INFO. Temporary hiatous. 262 ABY: Three years after the events of ECHO OF THE EMPIRE. A mysterious force conducts simultaneous attacks across the galaxy. Have the Celestials been roused? And if so, what are their intentions? Unexpected alliances shall be made
1. Chapter 1

STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: AWAKENING

By DhuryamDhuryam

Dramatis Personae

Allana Skywalker Hodon; Jedi Master (female human)

Armedius 'Krayt' Kreyt'narov; Jedi Knight (male Bothan)

Asyr Bwua'tu; Admiral (female Bothan)

Aya Morimoto; B-wing pilot (female Mon Calamari)

Enzetti Lah; Jedi Knight (female Yuuzhan Vong)

Hemir Hodon; Jedi Knight (male Chiss)

Koda Palaui; Jedi Knight (male human)

Mycroft Ludwig; Imperial Commander (male human)

Nelani Skywalker; Jedi Master (female human)

Sebastian Darklighter; Admiral (male human)

Thorden Hodon; child (male Chiss/human) 3

Tsetti Hodon; child (female Chiss/human) 5

Tycho Skywalker; Jedi Master (male human)

Zedekiah Braega; Imperial General (male human)

Ziggy Carmichael; pilot (male human)

Chapter 1

262 ABY

Location Unknown

The gravitational disturbances detected by the advanced sensor systems were the only evidence that their ship was inside a cloud of dark matter.

"You'd expect dark matter to be dark wouldn't you?"

"They only call it that because they don't know what to call it."

"How 'bout 'Mystery Matter'?" suggested the first.

"Hey, we've got something," interrupted a third. "But it's not dark matter. It's something solid."

"I think we just found the location of Senator Harken's tax records!" exclaimed the first.

UNKNOWN SIGNAL DETECTED-REINITIALIZING MAINFRAME-EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE-PROTOCOL?-TERMINATE

"Shut… Whoa. We just got a massive energy spike."

Unrecognizable, clearly malicious code began blurring by on one of the terminals. "We're being sliced!"

A large black form suddenly moved to block starlight. A beam of silvery light slammed into the shuttle's deflector shield. After another hit the ship detonated.

TERMINATED

SEARCHING FOR SIGNAL-SIGNAL FOUND-DATA ACQUISITION-SCANNING

Borleias Cyber Defense

The firewall had been breached. Miura's fingers flew over the keyboard as she sought to repair her assigned section of the firewall. No sooner had she fixed it than two new breaches appeared.

The Ferrerreo typed in a command to view the offending code. Unrecognizable symbols flashed by so fast she could scarcely recognize that she could not recognize them. The slicer droids couldn't even keep up, let alone her fingers. The poor droids couldn't even decipher the Void-derived thing.

Muira reflected, as the whole system began to crash, that it was fortunate that the mysterious code had been recorded. So at least people could try to decipher it, and at a reasonable speed.

Borleias

Tycho new things wouldn't stay calm forever. Zedekiah Braega was still out there. Still planning the annihilation of the Jedi and the Galactic Federation.

Almost two years ago the Empire had managed to help the Hapes Consortium end its civil war against the Hapan Freedom Federation. Both nations had signed a non-aggression pact. And the Empire had maintained a strong presence in the region.

The Galactic Federation had sent Admiral Darklighter's fleet back to the Hapes Cluster, but on the side of the rebels. The goal had been to make the region more trouble than it was worth for the Empire. But the Galactic Federation's efforts had merely prolonged the conflict, and by less than a year.

And by some perverted happenstance the former Director of Galactic Federation Intelligence Jed Haasef, after a brief stint as interim Chief of State, had been permanently elected to the position. Despite continual denial, Tycho new that the man was running surveillance on the Jedi. Monitoring their communications and their whereabouts, to the best of his ability. And this, of course, this would only make it harder for the Jedi to defend the Galactic Federation when things got ugly again.

EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES-PROTOCOL?-TERMINATE

Chiss Ascendency

"Commander Sgovt, you need to see this."

Kres'gov'tin walked over to the officer's station. He pointed at the visual display. "There's something blotting out the stars. But it is not appearing on our sensors."

"Stealth technology?" The Chiss commander frowned. The stealth technology used in the Stealth-X fighter had been rendered obsolete almost one hundred years ago. The technology had obviously advanced.

A shiver went down Kres'gov'tin's spine as she looked at the ship. It appeared to be at least the size of a Corellian Corvette. And she spotted another such ship. "Go to high alert," she said into his comlink. "We have an unknown number of potentially hostile, stealth equipped capital vessels."

The _Dagger of Csilla_ shuddered as its deflector shield was hit by a silvery beam of energy. Commander Sgovt kept her eyes on the visual display. The light from the explosion partially outlined one of the enemy vessels. The hull was much sleeker than that of a Corellian Corvette.

"Shields down to eighty nine percent," called one of the officers.

The commander activated her comlink again. "Stealth ships are hostile."

That enemy vessel, and a second, were illuminated as the _Dagger of Csilla_ returned fire. The hulls appeared to be a matte black in hit, and the shield strength dipped to seventy seven.

"Thirty six percent," reported that same officer.

"In other words, we are going to die."

"I'm afraid so, ma'am."

The _Dagger of Csilla_ leapt forward, slamming into one of its attackers. The two vessels joined in an enormous fireball.

_Darklighter _

Asyr Bwua'tu was going over reports on a tread climber, as she usually did, when her comlink beeped its urgent tone. The admiral snatched it.

"The Ascendency was just attacked…" There was a brief pause. "Are you serious," the man said to someone on the other end. "Bastion was just attacked, too. It sounds like whatever attacked was using stealth tech. I have to go."

Borleias

A tiny spark of Force lightning danced on Koda's finger as he soldered together a small piece of circuitry for one of the _Sarlagesus_' computers. He moved the cover plate a little and a small magnet pulled it closed the rest of the way. He nodded. Sometimes a simple magnet could do the job of automated machinery just as well.

Hemir was a couple meters away, finishing some other repairs. He placed the metal panel, now covered by a pleasant bluish rug square, back into its place in the floor of the _Sarlagesus_. Small magnets would hold it in place. The Chiss Jedi stood up and regarded his hands; they needed a good wash.

His daughter Tsetti, with her little brother Thorden-who held a plush indigo jumping spider-tagging along behind her, walked over to him. She was very concerned about something.

"What's wrong, Tsetti?" Hemir asked. His daughter was able to sense disturbances in the Force a moment or so before most others. She'd be a very powerful Jedi someday.

"I don't know, but it's really bad." She sounded scared.

_Darklighter_

Holograms were coming to life as Admiral Bwua'tu made it into the ops room, still in her sweaty workout clothes.

Jed Haasef, the Director of GF Intelligence and Chief of State, looked tense. As usual.

Also present in hologram were Tycho, Nelani, Allana, and Hemir. Though Hemir wasn't a master he was still treated as one due to his invaluable input.

Asyr Bwua'tu was a little surprised when Moff Gatterweld's likeness also appeared in the chair opposite hers. Though she shouldn't have been.

"Another attack has just started at Duros," said the Chief of State, sourly. Asyr knew his tone was just an attempt to mask his fear. "Admiral Darklighter's fleet just entered realspace outside the gravity well. one of the guards interrupted as he put away his comlink.

"I heard that they were using stealth tech," Admiral Bwua'tu said.

The Devaronian Chief of State nodded his horned head. "That has just been confirmed."

"Capital ships?" Tycho asked.

"I'm afraid so," the admiral said. "Commander Kres'gov'tin was killed in action."


	2. Chapter 2

Duros

Staring through the forward viewports of the Mon Calamari cruiser _Shield of Dac_ Captain Hiroyuki Nagaru surveyed the battle, massacre really, in utter dismay. Dozens of Galactic Federation ships were already floating dead in space. Some of these vessels, he could see, were sinking into low, decaying orbits around the planet. As with the attack on Coruscant by the droid ships, the debris would crash to the planet, ending countless lives. At least there there'd been advance warning.

The enemy ships were about two thirds the size of the standard Star Destroyer. They were seed shaped, with the front end tapering to a point. A very sleek version of a Star Destroyer. Beams of silvery-white energy lanced from the ships, slamming into the deflector shields of the Star Destroyers. Their shields rippled as though they'd been hit dozens of times. And there were smaller shadows flitting about, ramming Federation fighters and then flying away.

Yes, part of the Mon Calamari captain was relieved when Admiral Darklighter's fleet arrived. _But what can they do other than provide these shadow ships with more targets?_ The admiral might at least be able to learn something about the way they fight.

* * *

Aya Morimoto had never seen fighters like these before. A matte black color, reminiscent of the antiquated Stealth-X. At first glance the fighters appeared triangular, but illumination from weapons fire revealed them to be vee shaped. And the front edges of the craft appeared razor sharp.

She instinctively juked her B-wing out of the way of a fighter intent on ramming her. The fighter went on to ram a nearby X-wing, and then veered away, seemingly undamaged. It was like watching a knife cut through blue butter. Aya felt sick; she could image the poor pilot being cut in two. Of course he would have been dead before that. _He?_

* * *

Vladimir Durron reached out toward the enemy force. The stagnant stench of something that could scarcely be called life. Engulfed and permeated by an ugly, hateful haze. Suspended, barely above death.

The vee shaped fighter ahead of him suddenly rose up on its right or left, depending on one's perspective, avoiding his lasers yet again. As with those dreadful Shadow TIEs the thing seemed able to predict his actions. The same was true of the mysterious fleet as a whole. Not that they actually needed that capability.

* * *

Admiral Darklighter's fleet provided cover fire for fleeing civilian ships and damaged Star Destroyers as best they could. Upon reaching his fleet the damaged Star Destroyers turned to present their flank weapons, whichever side was more functional, to the enemy. Sebastian hoped to destroy at least one of these enemy ships, for the sake of morale.

Sebastian hated fighting this way. The primary goal was not to destroy enemy ships, though it was still desirable, but rather to preserve as many ally ships as possible. One couldn't win a chess game without taking any pieces.

One of the seed shaped capital ships pounded a pair of Star Destroyers. The smaller ship should have been on its way to the scrap heap by now, but its deflector shield hardly seemed taxed. The crew knew exactly where the Galactic Federation vessels' gunners would aim. A group of razor edged fighters crept under the weakened deflector shield of one of the Star Destroyers. They took out some of the deflector shield generators, as though they'd studied the vessel's schematics, and then veered away to allow their larger comrade to finish it off. That larger vessel moved out of the way before it could be rammed by the doomed Star Destroyer.

* * *

The wings of Vladimir's quarry suddenly bent forward and the ship was now coming right at him. He twisted his X-wing out of the way, mostly-he felt an impact as the deflector shield was temporarily breached.

Vladimir continued on his current trajectory and, as he had hoped, the razor like fighter instantly reversed course to chase after him. The Jedi Master reached out into the Force, grabbed onto a piece of debris, and hurled it behind his X-wing. It slammed into his pursuer; Vladimir could feel in the Force that the fighter had been damaged. He looped around and fired a torpedo at the middle of the fighter. It detonated in a spray of shrapnel.

A pair of Razors was going after that B-wing Vladimir had been tracking. The pilot had no idea how important she was. How much good she could do. So he put on a burst of speed and began firing at one of them from above/below as these fighters apparently lacked a definite top and bottom.

Some distance from Borleias

Admiral Bwua'tu's fleet dropped out of hyperspace to join with the Chiss fleet, led by Chaff'aldo'rogen or Faldor. It was a massive combined fleet; as of yet no one knew how else to fight this new threat. Asyr was hopeful that weaknesses would be discovered.

No enemy fleet movements had been detected as of yet, not surprising given their stealth nature, but Borleias had been deemed a logical next step.

The report from Duros was not good. The enemy, which had lost just one capital ship, now held Duros, and only about half the defending vessels had managed to escape. The enemy's capital ships, while smaller than a Star Destroyer, were considerably more powerful. Their fighters could ram other fighters without sustaining any significant damage, and could reverse course almost instantaneously.

* * *

Fighters poured out of their carriers as the Federation/Chiss fleet waited for what had been designated as the Dark Fleet. Allana led Hemir and Koda, on her left and right flanks respectively, out of the _Darklighter_. "This oughta be fun," Koda remarked sarcastically over the comm. A few moments later flashes of light began resolving themselves into shadows.

Hemir reached out to the new arrivals in the Force. At first he felt nothing. He frowned; it had to be something. He recalled reading of an experiment involving a vacuum chamber. There shouldn't have been anything inside this chamber, yet when a detector was placed nearby something was detected.

So Hemir probed that vast nothingness. And felt something… pure hatred. Yet strangely there was no emotion attached to it. It was purely intellectual. There were many presences, all of them connected. It was reminiscent of what he'd felt at that Killik nest on the moon Rzoto. A hive mind. Whatever one knew they all knew.

Hemir focused in on one of the presences. What he felt reminded him of the Silentium that had been in that room in the coreship with Allana. But while that presence was not at all vibrant, it didn't have that distinct sense of deadness, either. And it hadn't been evil, as these presences were. These beings had not been deceived and taken advantage of, as the Silentium had been, by Abeloth.

* * *

Asyr Bwua'tu shook her head at the enemy force. Had she not known how powerful those ships were she'd have laughed, as this fleet was about half the size of the Galactic Federation/Chiss fleet. But now she suppressed a shudder.

Lines of deadly silver white light came to life just above and below the middle of the seed shaped vessels. The ships looked quite a bit like paramecia with the hair like cilia with which they moved. The Federation/Chiss fleet let loose with red, green, and blue fire. The primary colors of light, which together made white. The admiral was relieved to see the deflector shields of the enemy rippling.

* * *

Coming out around the sheets of white fire were what had been designated as Razors. They twisted through space, knowing where the Federation pilots would fire. Both sides began taking losses. A pair of razors took up position ahead of Allana, Hemir, and Koda. Hemir focused his attention on the vessels. The energy flow near the middle of the left most one changed. His wife and apprentice felt what he felt through the Force meld and the three fired at the center of the ship. It exploded in a shower of shrapnel.

Koda juked his X-wing as the second razor came at him. It slammed into his lower left s-foil, ripping off the whole wing and putting him into a spin. He quickly corrected it, but was now left with only three engines. The three Jedi dispersed as that second razor came along for another pass. This one would not fall for that same trick, at least not as easily.

But the enemy fighter suddenly detonated, and the _Sarlagesus_ passed by, twisting in space to avoid another of the Razors. "Thanks, Wiggy," Koda commed.

Ziggy Carmichael frowned at the use of his nickname. His frown deepened as he heard a _pop_ from somewhere behind him. There was a skittering sound as some of the ship's buzz droids went to effect repairs.

* * *

Nelani felt another pilot in her squadron die as a Razor sliced through the younger woman's X-wing. Her husband Tycho fired a torpedo at that X-wing, destroying the enemy fighter along with it. He, too, led his own squadron, well half of one now. And the one led by Armedius and Enzetti was completely gone.

The two Jedi Knights joined up with Ziggy to give him a hand. Enzetti's shield sparked as a piece of a Razor the _Sarlagesus_ had just vaped. She and Armedius managed to take out a second Razor. But not before it scraped Armedius' shield in a failed attempt to cut through the cockpit, and the Bothan Jedi within. The two X-wings and the freighter, which had no trouble keeping up, then joined up with a squadron of A-wings and two B-wings to go after a whole squadron of Razors.

* * *

The _Darklighter _quaked as another silvery beam of energy slammed into her deflector shield. "Shield strength down to seventy three percent," Zuul Zuzu informed Admiral Bwua'tu.

The battle was going a tiny bit better than Admiral Bwua'tu had expected. The enemy had already lost three carriers, and a fourth was on its way. Three Federation ships had been lost along with four Chiss vessels. Considering that the enemy ships were around twice as powerful this fight was actually turning out to be a draw. Which would allow Borleias to be almost completely evacuated; unfortunately there were those unfortunate few, or many who would be stuck on the world.

The seed shaped enemy ships suddenly began moving backwards, like the squid like cuttlefish. That combined with a lack of ion emissions made it clear that the enemy ships' propulsion was based on gravity disturbances, as with the vessels that had been used by the Yuuzhan Vong. But those ships, as far as Asyr knew, could not move backwards. Nor had they been able to enter hyperspace backwards, she reflected as the enemy vessels began disappearing in flashes of silver white light.

The enemy would regroup and come back with an even larger fleet, most likely. Allana had commed the admiral with the news that the enemy fleet was connected in a type of hive mind, so what that enemy fleet had all of the other such fleets and their ships had also learned. Asyr knew the hyperlane ahead would be brutal.

_Shield of Dac_

Vladimir made his way toward a Mon Calamari female. Her skin was a light turquoise color, rare among the amphibious species which usually had salmon or olive colored skin. "Aya Morimoto?" he asked.

Aya nodded slowly. "You're a Jedi," she said, upon seeing the cylindrical weapon on his belt.

He nodded.

"Thank you for helping me out back there."

"You're welcome." Vladimir looked at her a few seconds. He hadn't commed when he'd come to help her destroy those Razors. One would have to be at least Force sensitive to know it had been him.

"You think…"

"I believe you could be," the Jedi Master replied. "There is a simple test I can perform to find out. It should not hurt."

"I guess it would be good to know," the Mon Calamari woman said reluctantly.

Vladimir put his hands on her temples. The Jedi Master reached into one of the dark recesses of her mind. He extended his Force presence. Aya's mind pushed back, and Vladimir stumbled backward. When he lifted his head there was a smile on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: The full name of the ****_Darklighter_**** is the ****_Virgil Darklighter_****. **

_Darklighter _

"Chief of State Haasef," Admiral Bwua'tu greeted the image of the Devaronian hovering before her.

"Good afternoon, Admiral Bwua'tu."

The man never called unless he wanted something. And it wasn't usually something she liked. "What may I do for you?" Asyr asked.

"It is imperative that we hold Borleias as long as possible. So I am going to send you some reinforcements." Almost immediately after the previous battle Faldor had taken his fleet back to the Chiss Ascendency to help defend their territory.

"That still might not be enough to hold Borleias," Admiral Bwua'tu warned.

"Well, we have to try. The less territory they take the better. And you're familiar with that X-wing production facility on Borleias."

"The one built near that massive mineral deposit." The deposit had been discovered a few years ago, and was the main reason Borleias had been chosen as the interim-with the Senate still in deadlock, it might as well have been permanent-capital of the Galactic Federation. Yes, it was important. But to risk losing a whole fleet? She doubted that there was some sort of super weapon under there. No, the Jedi would have known, and would have told her.

Jed Haasef nodded. "I need you to send ground forces to defend the facility." The Chief of State adjusted some unseen object. There was something he wasn't telling her. Something he couldn't tell her lest the Dark Fleet overhear and ruin his plan. "And if you could include a few Jedi I'd appreciate it." The Jedi would be able to learn things about the Dark Ground Forces that someone else would not.

This wasn't about the X-wing production facility. If the plant was made to look important the Dark Fleet would want to know why. Their whole fleet would likely have to remain to provide support for any ground forces they might send down to investigate. And if they suspected some sort of trap and didn't come then Borleias would remain in Federation possession.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do. But if this goes sour I will see to it that you are impeached." She'd always wanted to say something like that to him. And now, for the sake of this ruse, she almost had to.

A man in his late seventies walked down the boarding ramp of a ship similar to the _Firefacet_. His face was heavily lined, attesting to great sorrow. His once dark hair was fading, ever so slightly, to gray. But his eyes were still a vibrant blue, full of both wisdom and youth. And an eccentric, though somewhat demented brilliance.

"Father," Tycho said as he embraced the man. His father, Tiberius had still not forgiven himself for killing Tycho's mother, Mariana. Even though he'd had no choice. Even though he now knew, like the other Jedi, that Abeloth had been responsible for his wife's death.

249 ABY

It looked like him. It sounded like him. _But it's not him, not my son._ Mariana looked at the ion blaster on the desk behind Tycho. The weapon suddenly spun around, and beam of blue energy hit him. He fell to his knees. Another blast and he fell forward, unconscious. Her lightsaber _snapp-hissed_ to life, and she swung-

Sparks erupted as her purple lightsaber clashed with the lime-green blade of Tiberius' lightsaber. "Mari, what the heck are you doing?"

"That's not Tycho!" She had this strange look in her eyes. Mariana backed up. "And you're not my husband!" she shrieked. Tycho's lightsaber suddenly flew from his belt and into Mariana's outstretched hand. Its blue blade came to life.

"Don't do this, my love," Tiberius pleaded.

Mariana lunged at him. He looked around. There were no objects nearby that he could hurl at her to knock her out, and he wouldn't be able to get to the ion blaster quickly enough. Tiberius Force hurled his wife into the wall.

Still conscious, she pushed off the wall and swung one of the lightsabers at Tycho. Tiberius blocked the blade. The other blade was headed toward his neck. He used the Force to twist her wrist away. Mariana pushed against him. Tiberius tapped into the Force a bit more. There was a snap as her wrist bent at an unnatural angle. The momentum caused the lightsaber to go through her chest. She screamed and fell to the ground.

Tiberius knelt beside her. "Get away from me," she whispered, terrified. He stood up and backed away from her. He desperately wanted to hold his wife on last time, but she thought he was someone, something else. He wouldn't make his wife's death any worse than it had to be. He picked up the ion blaster, and stunned her.

262 ABY

Borleias

Captain Dmitri looked out the forward viewport. The reinforcements Chief of State Haasef had promised had arrived about half a day earlier. He turned toward Admiral Bwua'tu. "I am not convinced that our fleet will up to the task."

"There was more to Haasef's plan than he was able to tell me."

"So he has set up a trap, then."

"I do not see what else it could be." The Bothan admiral looked at one of the monitor screens. A small number of civilian ships were still leaving Borleias. She could imagine their frustration and horror at being delayed by obstacles at one of the worst possible times.

And then there were those people who had been sent down to the planet, to defend something of such little significance as a fighter production facility. The Star Destroyers held far more X-wings and other fighters. But Haasef, as much as she disliked him and as much as she hated to admit it, was a brilliant man…

Seed shaped vessels began to materialize out of the endless night that was space. The Dark Fleet surged forward and reached firing range over a minute before the Galactic Federation fleet. Swarms of dagger like fighters boiled out of the Dark Ships and met up with the ranks of Federation fighters.

Initially the pilots either twisted out of the way or had their ships sliced open and died. Some pilots managed to fire upon their dead, or soon-to-be-dead, comrades' fighters as they were rammed. This took out some of the Razors.

* * *

Tycho joined up with a pair of A-wings. One of the A-wings got behind one of the Razors and as it bent its wings forward so that it could reverse course, Tycho fired his lasers and a pair of torpedoes at the top/bottom of the enemy fighter. A pass by the A-wing it had failed to ram finished it off.

A few kilometers away his wife Nelani grabbed onto a piece of space debris and hurled it into a Razor that she had allowed to tail her. She was flying the _Firefacet_ almost like it was an X-wing, twisting and juking at the last instant to avoid getting rammed. The freighter wasn't quite as fast as an X-wing, but it had more fire power.

* * *

Aya Morimoto remained near the _Krakana_, the Mon Cal cruiser to which she'd been transferred, to help defend it from the vicious Razors. Since B-wings weren't as fast as other fighters, it was a logical role for such fighters.

The Mon Calamari pilot let those once mysterious instincts which, thanks to Vladimir she now knew was the Force, guide her actions. She suddenly juked to the right, without immediately knowing why, and a second or so later a Razor scraped against her deflector shield instead of ripping open her fighter's cockpit. She then fired at one of her comrades just as another Razor tore into that B-wing's cockpit. He would have been dead in under a second, anyway. Still, there had to be a better way to fight their enemy than this. But until then…

* * *

A number of Star Destroyers were mercilessly pounding one of the Dark Ships which was headed toward the surface of Borleias. Considerably smaller ships, though considerably larger than the Razors, swarmed out of their apparently doomed carrier. Troop transports. Admiral Bwua'tu had suspected it to be a diversion at first. But the Dark Fleet had not needed one.

What if the Chief of State's only goal had been to learn about the Dark Fleet's ground forces? Was he willing to risk an entire fleet just for that?

Surface of Borleias

Hemir and Allana quickly exited the manufacturing plant with a group of Galactic Federation soldiers and Combat droids. The droids retained the characteristic skull-like face of their predecessors, but were more heavily armed. They carried more grenades and both their forearms could turn into plasma cannons, pretty much like Hemir's prosthetic arm. Though his wasn't legal in the Federation, but since he wasn't technically a citizen…

There was a tremendous boom as an elongated lozenge of black passed by overhead. Three X-wings, unmanned because their Jedi pilots were groundside, followed behind it. Sparks erupted from the left side of the troop transport. A torpedo launched from a black X-wing, with pink trim and a matching astromech droid, hit the damaged area and the transport exploded.

Hemir reached out in the Force to the shadowy shapes that fell to the ground. The same thing he had felt from the Dark Ships. And most of these… mechanical monstrosities were mostly intact, which he promptly relayed to the rest of the party. Silver-white energy rained down on the group as the Dark Ones descended. The Chiss Jedi fired a silver-white ball of plasma at the head of one of them and felt it go dead. But already, two soldiers had been killed.

One of the Dark Ones landed a few meters from Hemir. It looked like a black, nightmare version of a Combat droid. It must have been about nine feet tall. On the right side of its face was a large, red eye. On the left were three smaller ones. The hands had six long, slender fingers. It reminded Hemir of those spiders one would sometimes find in a corner in one's flat, hanging upside-down from a small web. And the foot-it was missing the lower part of its right leg-ended in three vicious looking claws, like those of some predatory bird.

Several more of these Dark Ones dropped down to the ground near the first. "This should be fun," someone said sarcastically.

The six Dark Ones charged at the group-the one legged one barely seemed hindered. It did not seem like a good strategy, which worried Hemir considerably. The mechanized warriors jumped and twisted out of the way, with surprising nimbleness, as the group fired on them. As though they were Jedi.

One of the Dark Ones leapt into the air and grabbed the head of an unfortunate Combat droid with a clawed foot, ripping it off. As it landed its left forearm seemed to melt into a sharp point. The being impaled another droid in the chest. A blast of silver-white energy came out of the droid's back and blasted a hole in another droid's chest.

The one legged Dark One jumped into a group of soldiers. Allana Forced hurled the monstrosity away from the soldiers. The Dark One used the energy for a back flip, and landed on its foot. Allana ran toward it, firing with a heavy blaster and batting energy launched from her enemy's blades. The Federation soldiers behind Allana provided her with much needed cover fire.

Hemir came up behind that Dark One, barely ducking a slash from the being. For a moment or two it managed to hold its own against him and Allana, until he slagged the head with his plasma cannon. Hemir Force threw another mechanical warrior away from the group of Federation soldiers; only five of the ten were still alive. And the last Combat droid had just fallen.

Two more Dark Ones came at Hemir and Allana. Allana managed, with some difficulty to block the two blades of her opponent.

Hemir, though not as strong in the Force, managed to hold his own. He'd activated his saberstaff's second blade. The Dark One twisted away from one of Hemir's blows and while keeping him busy with one forearm, swung the other toward his neck. Hemir reconfigured his left forearm into a blade to block. He then managed to Force push the monster away, but not before the beskar blade shattered.

Taking advantage of the short reprieve Hemir jumped into the air, twisted around and fired off a plasma ball at his wife's opponent. It jumped out of the way only to be fired upon by three angry Federation soldiers. This gave Allana the time she needed to behead her foe and Force toss the being at her husband's opponent. Hemir's opponent leapt up into the air only to be vaped by one of many droid gunships.

BorSec-Borleias Security-a subsidiary of CorSec-Corellian Security-had found a huge stock of the droid gunships after the droid crisis six years prior. They had proven to be invaluable to law enforcement, and ground engagements such as this one. They had been painted green and white, as BorSec used the same color scheme as CorSec.

* * *

Armedius and Tiberius Skywalker led a particularly large Federation ground force against a particularly large group of Dark Ones. The Jedi Master reached out to them in the Force. He felt a number of organic brains. Others had mechanical brains. He relayed this to Armedius through their Force meld.

Tiberius moved like a man a third his age. He rolled under one of the Dark Ones, slashing at its leg. He blocked a backward slash from the mechanical warrior, and used the force of the impact to help him roll away. The Jedi Master leapt into the air as his opponent turned around, deactivated his weapon, and then reactivated it to let the blade pierce the head.

Nearby, Armedius grabbed onto some debris from a downed enemy troop transport and slammed it into his opponent. A few meters away another transport passed over a droid gunship. Mechanical soldiers jumped out of the rear hatch which had irised open. One of these landed on the droid gunship. Both its forearms, in sword mode, sank in behind the droid's head. There was a puff of smoke and the crackle of electricity. Armedius groaned as the droid gunship crashed to the ground.

The attacker jumped into the air, but Tiberius used the Force to flip the disabled droid onto its back as it fell, pinning down the Dark One. "We need the head," he told Krayt. The Jedi Knight, deftly deflecting the Dark One's blasts, made his way to the being. The monster's neck was damaged, and Armedius easily beheaded it. The Bothan Jedi brushed the head in the Force, the brain was organic. Using the Force he hid the head in some nearby bushes.

* * *

"Tiberius needs a head with a mechanical brain," Vladimir told Enzetti as he used the Force to shut off his comlink. Holding his green lightsaber in his right hand, and one of two red ones belonging to Hemir's late father, Thorden in his left, his hands were busy.

Enzetti had Thorden's other lightsaber. Its blade suddenly elongated and turned silver to impale the neck of a Dark One with a mechanical brain. With the nexu cub already out of the crate Vladimir, too, elongated the blade of his borrowed lightsaber. He slashed the silver blade at the neck of that Dark One and blocked fire from another with his green-bladed lightsaber. Enzetti made a rending motion with her hand, tearing the head off the first Dark One.

This had, unfortunately, allowed three other Dark Ones to get uncomfortably close. Enzetti put a bubble of Force energy up behind her and Vladimir. She spun around to face them and summoned her lightwhip to her hand, activating it as she did so. Forced to play yet another trump card. She wouldn't be getting much help for Master Durron in the next few seconds as he was still engaged with that other Dark One.

* * *

The Galactic Federation troops and the Combat Droids were proving almost useless against these Dark Ones. But the droid gunships, on the other hand, were managing to do some damage. Though, they were also taking loses. One of the gunships mowed down a few mechanized warriors, only to be shot down by some of their comrades. The gunship slammed into ground, but managed to crush one of its attackers beneath it. It was followed by an explosion as a well aimed blaster bolt struck the downed gunship's port missile rack.

* * *

One of the Dark Ones leveled a blade at some bushes and fired a blast at the head Armedius had hidden, not so well it turned out. Fire from a passing gunship quickly reduced the being to slag. "We lost the head," he told Tiberius.

"There will be plenty more," said Tiberius.

In orbit

"That gundark has lost his head," Asyr Bwua'tu said in disgust of Jed Haasef. "And it has been replaced by a buzz droid."

"Aptly put, Admiral," agreed Captain Androkov." Already, two of their ships had been destroyed. And they were about to lose two or three more.

Asyr Bwua'tu gasped as a mighty flash of light suddenly resolved itself into an enormous, stylized dagger. Another _Vanquisher_-class Star Destroyer. Crimson fire rained down upon the enemy fleet. "Please disregard that last comment, Captain," she said slowly.

"Of course, Admiral," he replied quietly as the Bothan woman began to issue a slew of orders.

The enemy forces had been caught off guard by gargantuan _Vanquisher_-class Star Destroyer. Realizing, they were outmatched the Dark Ships began backing away and entering hyperspace as soon as they could. It was disturbing that such a massive, powerful vessel was needed to fight their enemy.

The standard Star Destroyers began targeting the swarms of Razors that remained; evidently, they lacked hyperdrives. The Dark Fleet would likely begin incorporating hyperdrives into their fighters. And when they returned they'd be prepared for the-Asyr Bwua'tu tapped the image of the enormous vessel that had just saved her fleet-_Herbert Brand_.

Surface of Borleias

Squadrons of X-wings and A-wings soared through the air annihilating ranks of the Dark Ground Forces. Two of Enzetti's opponents were blasted out of existence, and she made short work of her remaining enemy. The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi surveyed the damage. The ground was littered with dead Galactic Federation soldiers; only a small number had survived. And many lay on the ground wounded. It was all too similar to the scene six years ago, after Abeloth had taken Coruscant and forced the defending Federation fleet to retreat to Borleias. There were Dark Ones and droids, too. But she didn't care about that right now.

Vladimir walked over to Enzetti, holding the head of the Dark Ones. "The brain's organic." The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi bent down and picked up another head, this one with a mechanical brain. "And Tiberius has a forearm." He looked around at the carnage and shook his head. "As far as I know this is the first time the Dark Ones have encountered our ground forces. Imagine what they'll do next time, now that they know what to expect.

Enzetti groaned.

Naboo: Padme Research Lab

A male Gotal in a white lab coat met Koda at the bottom of the _Sarlagesus'_ boarding ramp. "Jorgan Tark," the man introduced himself.

"Koda Palaui." The Jedi Knight shook the man's hand. The second Borleias battle had begun and ended while Koda had been traveling to Naboo. Tycho had sent him here to investigate something he thought might be connected to the mysterious attacks.

"If you'll follow me, sir." The Gotal said nothing about the lightsaber hanging from Koda's belt as they walked down several hallways. "The thing we found started broadcasting a signal shortly after all them attacks started."

Koda nodded. "And those attacks started shortly after that expedition was supposed to investigate that cloud of dark matter."

"_Omwat Science Journal_?"

"Yeah, great holomag. You know if those… whatever they were, were hiding in clouds of dark matter that would explain how those attacks could be so spread out."

"I know some of the researchers that have been mapping the locations of dark matter clouds. I could get in touch with them and have the data sent to you. Here we are," he said as they entered a lab room.

"Cho Nar," a male Quarren in another white lab coat introduced himself. He wore a pair of MagniGoggles and stood by a large egg shaped object. It was a deep coppery bronze color, like the carapace of the destroyer droid Hemir kept aboard the _Sarlagesus_. About the base of the egg was gold colored material about the width of a human hand. Four bands of the same color and width radiated up from the base to join in a circle at the top. "Magnificent, isn't she?"

"Egg-squisite," Koda replied. He reached out toward it in the Force. "I think someone's in there. But it's hard to tell. It's…"

"Fuzzy?" Nar asked.

"Yeah."

The Quarren nodded. "We ran a whole bunch of scans. All they told was that the thing was heavily shielded." He nodded toward Jorgan. "Tark thinks it could even withstand gamma radiation."

"Hey, just 'cause we can't figure it out doesn't someone else can't."

"True." The Quarren turned to Koda. "We tried a laser cutter on the thing. A plasma torch, certain types of acid… But what we haven't tried is the Force."

"I'll see what I can do. Can't guarantee anything, though." He just stood and stared at it a few minutes. And then he put both his hands on it.

The Quarren opened his mouth to say something. Jorgan shook his head. "Don't distract him."

"I think I've got it," Koda said. The technician and the scientist watched in amazement as a section of the egg irised open. The three then jumped back as a whitish liquid spilled out onto the floor.

In the middle of the chamber was a mushroom shaped nodule. Ensconced in the side of it was what resembled a spook crystal with gray black metal spiraling about it. Some sort of tube went from the nodule to a sac which was slumped against the inside of the chamber. The being inside appeared to be humanoid.

Koda carefully ducked through the hole. The sac began squirming, and he felt a sense of claustrophobic panic start to build up in the occupant. He knelt down beside her, yes it was a female presence.

Underneath the membrane of the sac he saw what resembled a human face. Koda ripped the membrane open near the mouth. And she started gasping. "It's okay," he said as he tore the membrane away from her face.

Her eyes fluttered open. Koda had never seen such beautiful eyes. They were multi-colored, like a cosmic gas cloud, with flecks of copper. The eyes closed seconds later as she passed out.

* * *

Koda sat by her bedside as the scientist ran scans and conducted other medical tests. She was very close to human, but there were some obvious differences, such as her slightly pointed ears and a slender tail which ended in a poisonous stinger.

And there were more subtle things, such as the slight purple hue to her brownish skin. Her long hair, which appeared black at first, was actually dark shades of indigo and jade. At her left temple was a lock of deep pink hair. And there was a peculiar, yet lovely sharpness to her facial features. She looked a wee bit like Enzetti.

Cho Nar frowned at the brain scan. "She's in a coma right now. Don't know for how long. And she has significant damage to the temporal lobe. It looks like someone erased some of her memories."

Jorgan Tark walked over to them. "I don't see any sort of data ports on that thing," he said, sounding disappointed. He looked over at the crystal, then at Koda.

The Jedi got up and walked over to the crystal. It wasn't a tsil. Koda picked it up and it began glowing as he brushed it in the Force. The light grew brighter as the object began humming like a lightsaber, though lower in pitch. The metal seemed to corkscrew outward, as though it was growing. It reminded Koda of how carbon nanotubes seemed to almost assemble themselves. Points of light appeared in the empty spaces and began growing. The staff suddenly became heavier as that light seemed to materialize into crystal. The two twisted ends of the staff untwisted themselves into razor sharp spear tips.

Koda felt an incredible surge of power building up within him; he had never felt so connected to the Force. Koda let go of the staff in the Force, and it almost instantly reverted to its original form. "Some sort of Force enhancement weapon," he told the other two, who stared at the crystal in amazement.

"Is she a Force user, then?" asked the Gotal.

"She doesn't feel like one," Koda said. He looked over at the crystal and then at the comatose woman. "Maybe the staff allows her to use the Force?" Why would she come with such a weapon otherwise? If it was for the Jedi to use… All that power could be dangerous.

A female Devaroniun walked up to Koda. The females looked like they belonged to a different species than the males. Whereas the males were completely bald the females were covered in short, soft fur. They lacked horns and had more versatile teeth. "I think you should see this," she said, pointing to the machine with she was analyzing the comatose woman's blood. She led him over and pointed at the screen. The tiny microscopic creatures looked somewhat familiar. "Ever seen anything like this before?"

"They look a bit like midichlorians," Koda said slowly.

The Devaroniun nodded. "That's what I thought." She frowned. "But not exactly like midichlorians?"

"They seem… less developed. That weapon must help her access the Force. I should tell Master Skywalker about all this. See what he wants me to do." He spoke to Tycho a few moments. "He wants me to take her and the egg back to the _Darklighter_."

"We'd have to release them to you," said Nar, frowning. "And while I have no reservations…" He glanced over at Jorgan.

"Neither do I," said the Gotal.

"The discharge process-"

"She has midichlorians in her blood and a Force enhancement weapon and a poisonous stinger," Koda reminded them."

Nar turned to Jorgan. "That sounds quite dangerous."

"It sure sounds like something the Jedi would be better equipped to handle."

The rest of the staff agreed wholeheartedly with the assessment, and a few minutes later the egg was secured in the _Sarlagesus'_ X-wing hold and the comatose woman was strapped into the rear right seat of the vessel.

**Don't forget to review so I know what I'm doing right and what I can improve upon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Star Destroyers belonging to the Empire shall be referred to as Imperial Star Destroyers-not to be confused with the ****_Imperator_****-class Star Destroyer.**

Hapes Consortium

Two Interdictor cruisers dropped out of hyperspace, one to port and the other to starboard of the Dark Fleet. Their gravity well projectors came online, trapping the enemy fleet. Imperial Star Destroyers and the double-disks of Hapan Battle Dragons surrounded the seed shaped vessels, pounding away mercilessly. Other Imperial and Hapan capital ships were targeting and vaping individual Razors with the precision of a neurosurgeon. Power had been almost completely shunted from the portions of the vessels' deflector shields not under fire from this particular Dark Fleet.

It was a somewhat risky strategy, reflected Imperial Commander Mycroft Ludwig. But it was an incredibly effective strategy as the areas under fire were greatly strengthened. Moff Gatterweld had even gone so far to order any unnecessary lighting aboard every ship to be shut off. The monitor screens aboard the bridge of the _Void Demon_ were plenty bright enough, Mycroft hadn't realized how bright until now.

Ludwig glanced over at Moff Gatterweld. The monitor provided just enough light for the Imperial Commander to see that the new leader of the Empire had a look of intense concentration on his face. _But I'm the one doing most of the commanding; the Moff has just made a few brilliant suggestions._

A few minutes later the battle was over, the Dark Fleet lying in utter ruin. Valron Gatterweld relaxed, and felt a weight against his leg as he let go of the device in his right pocket and pulled out his hand.

_Darklighter_

"Admiral Darklighter's is currently in the Corellian system with the fleet there," said Chief of State Haasef, who'd taken a shuttle from the _Brand_. "They're only holding out now by virtue of their enormous fleet." A golden line appeared, showing this. "And it appears that the Empire had a reserve fleet waiting at Belkadan, which Braega used to ambush one of the Dark Fleets. His fleet suffered moderate losses and regrouped at Adumar. Braega's still holding Adumar. Some of the Star Destroyers waiting there were unmanned and rigged to detonate, so the Dark Ones will be watching out for that."

"I find it a bit suspicious that their reserve fleet just happened to be at Belkadan at such a convenient time," Tycho commented.

"I believe the reserve fleet was constructed there, and was going to be used to attack the Federation," responded the Chief of State. Intelligence had already concluded that the third _Eclipse_ had to have been built there-most of it at least. "But now that you mention it, the timing is rather suspicious.

"And here's another thing that's suspicious. Part of the Hapes Consortium was just recently attacked. And Moff Gatterweld's fleet somehow managed to completely wipe them out."

Admiral Asyr Bwua'tu's eyes widened in surprise and her ears stood up.

"They used a pair of Interdictors to stop the Dark Fleet from retreating," Jed Haasef said. "But nothing about how Gatterweld's fleet managed to make them retreat in the first place."

"There weren't any hints about any clever tricks Gatterweld may have used?" Tycho asked.

"There was some chatter about energy conservation and effective deflector shield usage. But that's not all that much to go on."

Tycho groaned. "That's what I was afraid of."

"Sith?"

"Unless you have another explanation."

"Could it be another clone of your daughter?"

"I doubt it," Tycho said. "If Braega had had another clone of Allana, then I imagine my daughter would have had to fight two clones. The clones would've then easily killed Hemir." He didn't mention the obvious, that the Empire would still have the _Eclipse_, and would have taken Borleias, among myriad other things. "I'll have the Jedi look into this."

"Good." Jed Haasef turned to Admiral Bwua'tu.

"My plan was to join up with the Bilbringi fleet. The Dark Fleet will be prepared for the _Brand_ this time…" She paused and glanced at the Chief of State. He remained silent; he had no clever tricks up his sleeve, apparently.

"Perhaps we could have someone stay behind, right outside the gravity well, to see what nasty surprises the Dark Ones might have for us," Jed Haasef said. He turned to Admiral Bwua'tu. "I would like to transfer you to the _Brand_."

"I'll have to take the Jedi with me, then," Admiral Asyr Bwua'tu said. About three years prior Jedi Knight Koda Palaui had gone undercover to join the admiral's security detail over concerns that the Empire would send someone to assassinate her. Koda had been instrumental in foiling at least two such attempts, one by one of the Bothan admiral's own guards, Nigel Ludwig. Asyr imagined that there were many other times she didn't know about in which one or more of the Jedi had saved her life.

* * *

Tycho Skywalker walked into the room his father was using for his lab. Tiberius was listening to a piece Tycho recognized as Mondegrene's Fuge. The older Jedi stood at an autopsy table on which rested the severed forearm of one of the Dark Ones. "What have you learned?" he asked his father.

"Quite a bit." He gestured to the forearm, which had various wires attached to it. Some of those wires were connected to a small black box with a series of buttons and dials. Others were connected to a computer monitor. He pressed a red button and the forearm morphed into a blade. He pressed the button a second time and the arm reverted to its original state. "The fingers are housed in a meta-material. An electrical current turns the arm into a blade and sharpens the edges. I believe the Dark Fleet's fighters rely on a similar mechanism.

"The brains are perhaps even more interesting," Tiberius said as he led his son to the adjacent table. The organic brain lay in pieces around what looked like some sort of scaffolding. "I've never seen brain enhancement technology such as this," Tiberius said. "The brain had to have been grown around it. And the genome only contains the information necessary for the growth and maintenance of the brain. It's as though the rest of the genome has been deleted. There aren't even any gender chromosomes.

"And here's the disturbing part," he said as he typed a few things into a nearby monitor. It showed a detailed analysis of the brain's DNA. "The closest match for what's left of the genome is the Columi."

The Columi had developed enormous brains, with four cerebrums. Their pervasive use of technology had caused their limbs to atrophy to the point where they were completely useless. It was common for them to use powerbodies-humanoid machines they sat in and used their brains to control.

Tycho frowned at the dissected brain. "It looks a bit small for a Columi brain."

"It's not quite as developed," Tiberius agreed. "But it's entirely possible that the brain enhancement technology makes up for that. It would be very helpful to have a live specimen."

"We'll see what we can do," his son replied.

"I believe we're dealing with a primitive variant of the Columi, Precolumi if you will."

"These Precolumi must be ancient, then," Tycho surmised.

"Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years. They must have had some remarkable stasis systems."

"That does explain why we didn't pick up their mobilizations. They were already in position. But why are they attacking in the first place?"

"I can only guess," Tiberius said.

Tycho glanced at the mechanical brain, which had also been disassembled.

"I believe that once the organic brain begins to fail the consciousness is transferred to a mechanical brain," Tiberius said. "Armedius tried to get some data from this brain before it died, but it wouldn't let him in."

"Asyr Bwua'tu's being transferred to the _Brand_. She wants to take us along for security," Tycho said.

"We ought to get packing, then. I am done here anyway."

_Herbert Brand_

"Good to have another one of these again," Koda said of the new _Vanquisher_-class Star Destroyer as he greeted Tiberius. He described in great detail his visit to Naboo as he and the Jedi Master brought the egg and its passenger into the new lab. "She was awake for under a minute, and she's been in a coma ever since."

"There are some things I can try," Tiberius said.

"I'd like to stay. I think she'd appreciate seeing a familiar face. If she wakes up, I mean."

"Of course."

Tiberius put his hands on her temples, in hopes of getting into her mind. Her brain was quite similar to that of a human. He frowned; her mind was completely unresponsive. It was as though her brain simply didn't have enough power to be conscious. "We might be able to wake her with that Force enhancement weapon of hers. It could kill her, but she's in a very deep coma."

"So it's the only way," Koda said.

Tiberius nodded. He and hefted the crystal-there was a strange heaviness to it-and picked it up. The Jedi Master focused energy into the crystal, which began to hum and glow. The light black metal that surrounded it seemed to grow like some sort of vine, but at an incredibly unnatural speed. At regular intervals points of light appeared within the metal scaffolding. The light grew and then, as it seemed to solidify, it became slightly heavier. The 'vines' continued to grow for a few more seconds and then the ends untwisted to become razor sharp spear points.

Tiberius felt an incredible surge of Force energy. He relaxed his grip and the weapon reverted to its original state. "Yes," he said. "If it doesn't kill her it should certainly wake her."

"That metal stuff must be some sort of meta-material," Koda said. "A bit like the Dark Ones and their Razors."

"This material is far more complicated. I believe it is a nano-meta-material composite. I do not believe a meta-material alone could execute such a complex shape change."

"Makes sense. So when the staff gets heavier, that must be because it converts energy into matter." Koda sounded a tiny bit doubtful.

"It didn't _quite_ feel like matter to me. I believe the light was still energy, barely."

"_The Problem with Energy to Matter Conversion_," Koda said, quoting the name of an article he'd recently read in the _Omwat Science Journal_. While matter could easily be converted to energy, energy to matter was a whole different angry Nexu. The galaxy's most brilliant scientists still hadn't figured out how to do it.

Tiberius picked up the nano-meta-material composite wrapped crystal. A small burst of Force energy prompted the device to morph into a staff. He gently touched part of the staff to the unconscious woman's palm. The Jedi Master gradually applied more Force energy; the staff began humming like the engine of a _Lambuggati _speeder and lit up like a massive LED light.

The woman's back suddenly arched and she gasped. Her blood pressure and heart rate suddenly spiked. Tiberius eased his Force exertions on the staff, which promptly morphed back into the metal-wrapped crystal, and injected something into her arm. The Jedi Master put the crystal on a nearby side table, where his patient would be able to see it, as the numbers normalized. And as he did that, he reached out to her in the Force to keep her mind from sinking back into the coma. Moments later those beautiful eyes fluttered open.

"You're safe here, my dear." Tiberius could sense that she understood him. She saw her weapon on the nearby table and relaxed visibly. "My name is Tiberius Skywalker." She just looked at him a few moments. "Do you remember your name?" He gently prompted.

"Andromeda," she said a few moments later.

"Koda Palaui," said the Jedi Knight when she looked over at him.

"Do you remember where you came from?" Tiberius asked.

"Not the name of my peoples' home planet, or what we call ourselves. That information was dangerous, so it was erased from my memory. But most of us currently live in another dimension."

Tiberius nodded. "The brain scans revealed damage to the frontal lobe consistent with memory loss. Do you recall what other peoples have called you."

She nodded her head. "Many ancient races called us the Anunnaki, which translates roughly as 'those who from the heavens came'. Most of the sentient races today refer to us as the Architects or the Celestials."

The two Jedi remained silent a moment. Tiberius took out his comlink, typed in some things, and turned the screen toward Andromeda. "Do you recognize this?" he asked of the dark mechanical being in the picture."

"Nephilim," she breathed. "You've awakened them."

"Well, not us specifically," Koda clarified.

"They were created to protect the galaxy."

Both Tiberius and Koda frowned.

"Something went wrong with their programming," she said. "Someone must have hacked into the mainframe and inserted malicious code. The Nephilim began destroying whatever they could. Some of our programmers managed to get into the mainframe and shut them down. My people sent the Nephilim into clouds of dark matter where they were supposed to remain inactive. Any attempt to destroy them would have triggered their self preservation programming."

"There was an expedition into one of these clouds," Koda said. Dark matter blocked most outside signals because of the way it bent light. "The team never reported back."

"The team sent out signals when they were inside that cloud," Andromeda surmised. "The Nephilim interpreted it as an attack. They cannot be shut down as they were before."

"You said the Nephilim were created to protect the galaxy," Tiberius said after a momentary silence.

"Many ages ago my people encountered a hostile race from another galaxy. I believe the people here call them the Yuuzhan Vong," Andromeda explained.

"They tried to invade this galaxy about three hundred years ago," Koda said. "We defeated them."

Andromeda nodded. "That is why we did not need to reactivate the Nephilim; that was to be a last resort. We waited many ages for the Yuuzhan Vong to return. The Nephilim were tasked with keeping other civilizations planet bound so that they could not become a threat to us. There had just been a terrible war, and we wanted to avoid future wars."

"Was that pod you were found in an inter-dimensional transport?" Koda asked.

"Yes. After my people were forced to shut down the Nephilim we fled to the other dimension. Some of us remained behind so that they could send a drone into one of the clouds to reactivate the Nephilim should the need arise. They also reported back from time to time on the affairs of this dimension."

"Do you know where this other dimension is located?" Tiberius asked.

"Hyperspace is the place between this dimension and the one I came from. Once in hyperspace my transport, along with its occupant, can phase with the other dimension. But it is a very difficult process. There are many conditions that must be met. The original transition from this dimension took years."

Tiberius didn't know much about inter-dimensional travel, but some of what Andromeda had said sounded a bit suspicious to him. It did not seem like she was lying, however. He gestured to Koda, and the Jedi Knight handed over Andromeda's weapon.

"Our people have the ability to channel the Force," Andromeda explained. "But we cannot access it directly."

"And that's what this device does," Tiberius concluded.

"Yes." She remained silent a moment. "How long must I stay in this room?"

"You could leave today if you like." It would be pointless to keep her in the medical ward unnecessarily.

**Don't forget to review. Constructive criticism can only help.**


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